"as much fun to make as they are to eat"

No, it's not Jiffy Pop. Do you have to be as old as I am to remember Jiffy Pop?

I saw cranberry almond baked apples on sophistimom's blog and knew I wanted to try these. Along with a little help from my friends, we set up an assembly line. K prepared the apples, A molded the pastry, and I photographed the process. A couple of hours later, we all enjoyed a delicious dessert on this beautiful fall Saturday afternoon.

There was a learning curve to master with the peeler/corer/slicer. K only lost part of a fingernail; thank goodness there was no blood. By apple #3, she was a pro.

Here's the link to sophistimom's delicious recipe. Next baking, I might add a little more cinnamon and a little more almond flavoring. The pastry does break away from a few of the apples in places, but this does not affect taste nor presentation. Actually, steam was escaping in a curling stream through one of the pastry holes as I took the apples from the oven. It was pretty.

Notice the 'dish tiles' handmade by glass artist My Friend A.

Here's the link to other pictures from today's baking.